Sylvia

...är en fin, lågmäld och sorglig liten film, lite som en omsorgsfullt utformad minnesskrift där det riktigt svarta har lättats upp till mer uthärdligt grått.

In Plath's darker moments - of which there are inevitably many - Paltrow excels, giving an emotional performance that captures perfectly Plath's despair and frustration with her own situation, as well as her envy of husband Ted Hughes.

A glimpse of literary lives at a time when they were more central than they are now, a touching performance by Paltrow, and a portrait of a depressive.

…it's a first-rate showcase for Paltrow. With her beautiful, haunted eyes, Paltrow underplays what a lesser actor would have rendered luridly histrionic.